Okay, so I got all my Zapco stuff coming in very soon....got new component speakers...Just need to get a new head unit.

What I am looking for is a head unit with a high S/N ratio and low THD of course. Would like to have three sets of pre outs (front, back, sub) with at least 4 volts. A nice built in equalizer with 7+ bands would be nice as well. Oh, and I need good ipod control as well as Satellite (SIRIUS) Radio ready. Looks are important as well....I don't want the thing to be gold plated or anything, but, lol, not some cheap walmart looking faceplate, either.

Looking to spend under $500.

So throw me some ideas....what are the best sounding decks out there?

davidt487

10-08-2008, 03:50 PM

i like my eclipse deck i believe it has everything you are looking for but eclipse is about the only decks ive used

GlocksRock

10-08-2008, 03:58 PM

Alpine CDA-9887 with the imprint kit would do you right.

TurdFergueson2

10-08-2008, 03:58 PM

Alpine 9887. I would say the Premier 800PRS but you have to buy a separate iPod adapter. The above mentioned Eclipse has bluetooth, ipod and all of that built in without having to buy other stuff.

funkycasey

10-08-2008, 03:59 PM

Yea, there are some really nice Eclipse decks out there from what I've seen...I've been looking at Alpine's latest as well

Innovative:Cory

10-08-2008, 04:00 PM

Eclipse CD7200MKII...... for that price range...

Hell I could do that unit shipped for that amount :)

Megalomaniac

10-08-2008, 04:02 PM

Pioneer 800prs, has 16band independent eq where as the eclipse cd7200mkii only has a 11band eq. pioneer 800prs is in your price range :)

andrewmoore13

10-08-2008, 04:03 PM

I liked my 9887.

It's for sale btw.

Innovative:Cory

10-08-2008, 04:04 PM

Pioneer 800prs, has 16band independent eq where as the eclipse cd7200mkii only has a 11band eq. pioneer 800prs is in your price range :)

7200 has 8v preout, 3 year waranty, 1 year esn ( if it gets stolen you get a new one)

GlocksRock

10-08-2008, 04:06 PM

I liked my 9887.

It's for sale btw.

How much?

James Bang

10-08-2008, 04:06 PM

I'd put in a little more money and get this:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43950

funkycasey

10-08-2008, 04:10 PM

I'd put in a little more money and get this:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43950

Never heard of it....got any links to specifications?

So far, the Pioneer is looking like my best bet. Eclipse is also looking good though. That Alpine seems a little overprice when compared to the other brands with more features....

James Bang

10-08-2008, 04:11 PM

Never heard of it....got any links to specifications?

So far, the Pioneer is looking like my best bet. Eclipse is also looking good though. That Alpine seems a little overprice when compared to the other brands with more features....

here: http://www.caraudio.com/forum/search.php or www.google.com

FoxPro5

10-08-2008, 04:23 PM

Why in God's name are you concerned with "SQ" if you're going to be listening to an Ipod? :confused:

James Bang

10-08-2008, 04:24 PM

many are fooled by apple's lossless format.

azbass

10-08-2008, 04:25 PM

I like my Ural CDD

James Bang

10-08-2008, 04:26 PM

I like my Ural CDD

Can I touch it?
You'll have PM soon

FoxPro5

10-08-2008, 04:50 PM

many are fooled by apple's lossless format.

How many times can a signal go from A/D to D/A to A/D, anyway? You'd think it would all get lost or converted to heat along the way or something.... :laugh:

Get an Eclipse 8053, put some CD's in it and rock out with your **** out!

MikeyB

10-08-2008, 04:53 PM

I like my 9887, after messin with an 880 I like those too. Atleast the EQ anyways. But Ive always been an Alpine fan and I just love the layout of my deck.

Savstyle

10-08-2008, 04:55 PM

Why in God's name are you concerned with "SQ" if you're going to be listening to an Ipod? :confused:

wonderin the same thing

Tehgregzor

10-08-2008, 06:18 PM

Why in God's name are you concerned with "SQ" if you're going to be listening to an Ipod? :confused:

My thoughts exactly. Not so harsh though, heh. Maybe he normally listens to cds but when his girl is in the car, he's whipped and lets her throw on the iPod to listen to her Paris hilton music.

cx-7heaven

10-08-2008, 06:24 PM

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

X3

funkycasey

10-08-2008, 10:03 PM

My thoughts exactly. Not so harsh though, heh. Maybe he normally listens to cds but when his girl is in the car, he's whipped and lets her throw on the iPod to listen to her Paris hilton music.

You win the jackpot, lol. That is EXACTLY the reason....I always listen to CD's, but the girl has to have the whole computer library in her hands, lol

Savstyle

10-08-2008, 10:06 PM

You win the jackpot, lol. That is EXACTLY the reason....I always listen to CD's, but the girl has to have the whole computer library in her hands, lol

lol

im sorry man

You need to put that bish in check and make her enjoy your music

khanhfat

10-09-2008, 02:10 PM

Get a Clarion DRZ9255 and call it aday.. around 650$ ish or 615$ free ship. One of the BEST you can find compared to McIntosh line. Because Clarion makes HU for McIntosh and rebrand it.

It doess all kinds of things that a 9887 or other HU can do except MP3 . Time correction, eq , and most importantly is the DUAL 24 Bit converter in that separate power supply .

I've had a older series of that JDM HU and it's just WOW. The music comes alive. Every single detail that the artist sings or play comes all out to my speakers. The 9887 of alpine does not have that DEtail and CLarity of the Clarion. Now i throw over 100 cds of mp3 on my car and begin to burn FLAC Audiophile albums to CDs.

The new DRZ9255 is very promising, the one i had didn't have all that fancy adjustment available and it can only play CDs , no time correction , only bass treble knob. 2 pre outs lol :D

I own a 9887 and it is very dissapointed HU for all the advertisement that alpine put on those Multi EQ imprint . After using the Clarion, all that time correction or EQ that Alpine has is just a big FAIL. I wish i know the clarion earlier so i don't waste 350$ on that deck. I'm pretty happy with my clarion and the SQ it has. I just leave everything flat, tune it right on the amps and no need to adjust anything else.

Innovative:Cory

10-09-2008, 02:16 PM

Get a Clarion DRZ9255 and call it aday.. around 650$ ish or 615$ free ship. One of the BEST you can find compared to McIntosh line. Because Clarion makes HU for McIntosh and rebrand it.

It doess all kinds of things that a 9887 or other HU can do except MP3 . Time correction, eq , and most importantly is the DUAL 24 Bit converter in that separate power supply .

I've had a JDM older series of that HU and it's just a WOW SQ Headunit. Now i throw over 100 cds of mp3 on my car and begin to burn FLAC Audiophile albums to CDs.

The new DRZ9255 is very promising, the one i had didn't have all that fancy adjustment available and it can only play CDs , no time correction , only bass treble knob. 2 pre outs lol :D

I own a 9887 and it is very dissapointed HU for all the advertisement that alpine put on those Multi EQ imprint . After using the Clarion, all that time correction or EQ that Alpine has is just a big FAIL. I wish i know the clarion earlier so i don't waste 350$ on that deck. I'm pretty happy with my clarion and the SQ it have, it just leave everything flat, tune it right and no need to adjust anything else.

Just to let you know.....for that price that is a refub unit....that is below dealer cost brand new!

fasfocus00

10-09-2008, 02:30 PM

for me i'd get a nice clarion or kenwood excelon head unit with an Audiocontrol EQS and 6XS. that would get your the sound quality that you'd be looking for.

James Bang

10-09-2008, 02:30 PM

I own a 9887 and it is very dissapointed HU for all the advertisement that alpine put on those Multi EQ imprint . After using the Clarion, all that time correction or EQ that Alpine has is just a big FAIL. I wish i know the clarion earlier so i don't waste 350$ on that deck. I'm pretty happy with my clarion and the SQ it has. I just leave everything flat, tune it right on the amps and no need to adjust anything else.

Maybe you fail for not knowing how to T/A or EQ?

Your amps must have some major processing capabilities like those Zapcos to leave everything flat on your HU and still have this thing you call SQ.

buggsson

10-09-2008, 09:23 PM

Why in God's name are you concerned with "SQ" if you're going to be listening to an Ipod? :confused:

Because, if you like to, you can have uncompressed music on an iPod, it's not just a MP3 player.

Megalomaniac

10-09-2008, 09:37 PM

Maybe you fail for not knowing how to T/A or EQ?

Your amps must have some major processing capabilities like those Zapcos to leave everything flat on your HU and still have this thing you call SQ.

Lol aint that the truf. Unless he got some serious pathlengths going on I doubt he doesn't need t/a, even then in a car eq is a must to gain this mysterious thing we call "sq"

FoxPro5

10-09-2008, 09:45 PM

Because, if you like to, you can have uncompressed music on an iPod, it's not just a MP3 player.

Ok, well I guess I didn't know that. I thought you had to use the Apple lossless codec to rip music to it. Uncompressed, to me, is a straight digital copy of the original with something like EAC. Will the iPod allow a .wav file without some expensive software program??

Megalomaniac

10-09-2008, 09:57 PM

yes iPods(i believe only the latest generations) will let you play .wav native

Megalomaniac

10-09-2008, 10:03 PM

7200 has 8v preout, 3 year waranty, 1 year esn ( if it gets stolen you get a new one)

i cant tell the difference from a 5v preout and an 8v preout to be honest. I know on the 8000prs i can crank it all the way and it didnt bring any unwanted noises that I could hear. Pioeenr has a 2year warranty still pretty good. Not sure if everyone utilizes the ESN, but there are faceplates on decks for a reason. :)

Pioneers independent eq is a lt better than the parametric eq on the eclipse(i have an eclipse cd7000) so I have used both in essence. Just a bit more control on the pioneer. Also the pioneer has a wonderful very responsive remote control, the one with the eclipse is ****** and that connected dpad on the eclipse deck is prone to make some stupid mistakes that **** me off when I use mine.

buggsson

10-09-2008, 10:07 PM

Ok, well I guess I didn't know that. I thought you had to use the Apple lossless codec to rip music to it. Uncompressed, to me, is a straight digital copy of the original with something like EAC. Will the iPod allow a .wav file without some expensive software program??

They can play both AIFF and Wav files (I just checked the classic, but I guess the others will as well?) and I would presume you could rip at least Wav files from iTunes on a PC, which is free, and then not expensive.

Megalomaniac

10-09-2008, 10:13 PM

Macs' rip CD's in lossless just by draggin and dropping from the CD to desktop in .wav format.

Freelander

10-09-2008, 10:37 PM

I want the Ural CDD....is there any place online that sells them to the US or is my only choice used?

FoxPro5

10-09-2008, 10:59 PM

They can play both AIFF and Wav files (I just checked the classic, but I guess the others will as well?) and I would presume you could rip at least Wav files from iTunes on a PC, which is free, and then not expensive.

I never knew that, I guess. Great news, thanks.

But lossless is a form of compression, is it not? I understand the audibility between the two is probably not possible in a car, but just to be 100% sure.

khanhfat

10-10-2008, 12:53 AM

Lol aint that the truf. Unless he got some serious pathlengths going on I doubt he doesn't need t/a, even then in a car eq is a must to gain this mysterious thing we call "sq"

it's just my impression on the 9887, well i do have some fade left right to balance the front stage. :D. My tweets points to the dash and the curvy part of the front driver dash some how point the waves of the tweeters to my left ears, the one on the right blend in well . So yeah.... im happy with my front stage .

I only got 2 fronts and 1 sub. With the 9887 , the Cleaniness and musical quality ain't up there until i move to the clarion . Lots of detail comes out the speakers, signal come out cleaner than before. Bass is tight and punchier. So i just love it :D .

Sorry for my English if u dont get what i'm saying :D.

overall get the Clarion DRZ series!!!!

Megalomaniac

10-10-2008, 09:41 AM

tonally your setup might sound good. But with you tweeters that high(lack of path lengths in the sails), you definitely need to fiddle with the t/a. imo, blindly speaking of course, If I had to guess you dont have a "Stage" in your setup.

edit: balance is different from t/a

Louisiana_CRX

10-10-2008, 09:45 AM

My old school Pioneer M88 was one of the best SQ decks ever ...it was rated right there with the Alpine 7909 back in the day :fyi:

tonally your setup might sound good. But with you tweeters that high(lack of path lengths in the sails), you definitely need to fiddle with the t/a. imo, blindly speaking of course, If I had to guess you dont have a "Stage" in your setup.

edit: balance is different from t/a

Well its depends on your car interior as well. There is delay but very minimal to notice it. As long as it sounds good to me so i don't mind what other ppl say . The same applies to you and your gear. Every body's taste are different. I don' tsay the alpine ***** but the musical quality coming from the HU is not as i "expected".

Megalomaniac

10-10-2008, 04:21 PM

like i said you might have it down great tonally. But i just dont see how its possibleto have a good stage with your speaker placements without playing with time allignment and EQ

James Bang

10-10-2008, 05:30 PM

I don't how he can get such a drastic change in tonality/detail just by switching out HUs.

I also wonder if he even has anything to reference his system to.

oh well

squeak9798

10-10-2008, 07:55 PM

But with you tweeters that high(lack of path lengths in the sails), you definitely need to fiddle with the t/a.

Imaging cues in the high frequency region is dictated by IID, not ITD.

TA'ing tweeters to the same-channel mids (if drastically separated) might help same-channel phase coherency around the crossover region, but not high frequency imaging.

But yours is the only post in this thread I've read....so I'm not even really sure what the discussion is actually about.

shaneb

10-10-2008, 08:01 PM

Eclipse

Megalomaniac

10-10-2008, 08:19 PM

Imaging cues in the high frequency region is dictated by IID, not ITD.

TA'ing tweeters to the same-channel mids (if drastically separated) might help same-channel phase coherency around the crossover region, but not high frequency imaging.

But yours is the only post in this thread I've read....so I'm not even really sure what the discussion is actually about.

I think i may have worded it bad. He is using stock locations from what i understand(mids in doors tweets in sails). without t/a using those locations would not give him a sufficient a stage at all. It would sound rather stock(imaging wise). I just mentioned the tweeters out of the top of my head because thats the closest drive to his head. anywho i guess the real point is, changing the source(alone, leaving settings alone) will not magically give you a stage without utilizing the functions.

I keep emphasizing on t/a because only way to not use time alignment(and have a good stage) is if you have like 7' pathlengths and nothing in its acoustics way, hehe

I hope that makes more sense, if not i can go in more depth but i feel i brushed the point enough whether it be direct or indirectly.

edit: the discussion was because of the post khan said.

Get a Clarion DRZ9255 and call it aday.. around 650$ ish or 615$ free ship. One of the BEST you can find compared to McIntosh line. Because Clarion makes HU for McIntosh and rebrand it.

It doess all kinds of things that a 9887 or other HU can do except MP3 . Time correction, eq , and most importantly is the DUAL 24 Bit converter in that separate power supply .

I've had a older series of that JDM HU and it's just WOW. The music comes alive. Every single detail that the artist sings or play comes all out to my speakers. The 9887 of alpine does not have that DEtail and CLarity of the Clarion. Now i throw over 100 cds of mp3 on my car and begin to burn FLAC Audiophile albums to CDs.

The new DRZ9255 is very promising, the one i had didn't have all that fancy adjustment available and it can only play CDs , no time correction , only bass treble knob. 2 pre outs lol :D

I own a 9887 and it is very dissapointed HU for all the advertisement that alpine put on those Multi EQ imprint . After using the Clarion, all that time correction or EQ that Alpine has is just a big FAIL. I wish i know the clarion earlier so i don't waste 350$ on that deck. I'm pretty happy with my clarion and the SQ it has. I just leave everything flat, tune it right on the amps and no need to adjust anything else.

James Bang

10-11-2008, 06:14 AM

I really want to know what amps khanhfat is running.

buggsson

10-11-2008, 06:16 PM

I never knew that, I guess. Great news, thanks.

But lossless is a form of compression, is it not? I understand the audibility between the two is probably not possible in a car, but just to be 100% sure.

Yes, lossless is a form of compression, but as it's name implies, it is not supposed to affect how it sounds, in comparison to lossy formats like MP3 where the sound quality is reduced.

But both AIFF and WAV files are uncompressed file formats if you want to be on the safe side. But I have only heard positive reviews of Apples lossless format. I am sure some will disagree, but for me it's good enough.

khanhfat

10-11-2008, 06:20 PM

please discard my posts if u don't agree. :) Its just my personal opinion, the clarion deck i'm using doesn't have time correction or anything it's an old deck. But hey, the new clarion DRZ now comes with Time Alignment and EQ, dual 24 bit , noise filter , what more could i ask for compared to Alpine Eclipse that you guys recommend, price tag is nearly twice as much.

At least the Clarion comes in 3-4 th place in Hiend HU show down on Elitecaraudioforum after McIntosh and Panasonic CQ TX 5500W.

The down side is they don't play MP3 cds, so if uu want to hook up your ipod or play mp3 cds. Get either 9887 or the Eclipe 7200 are good enough.

Megalomaniac

10-11-2008, 08:39 PM

please discard my posts if u don't agree. :) Its just my personal opinion, the clarion deck i'm using doesn't have time correction or anything it's an old deck. But hey, the new clarion DRZ now comes with Time Alignment and EQ, dual 24 bit , noise filter , what more could i ask for compared to Alpine Eclipse that you guys recommend, price tag is nearly twice as much.

At least the Clarion comes in 3-4 th place in Hiend HU show down on Elitecaraudioforum after McIntosh and Panasonic CQ TX 5500W.

The down side is they don't play MP3 cds, so if uu want to hook up your ipod or play mp3 cds. Get either 9887 or the Eclipe 7200 are good enough.

Pioneer p880 > Alpine cda-9853 haha i think that the 880 is very user friendly. I have problems with using different alpines and what not. But i guess it just depends on how long you mess with them.

khanhfat

10-12-2008, 02:53 PM

yeah 880PRS is also a decent choice :) .

MikeyB

10-12-2008, 04:06 PM

I wouldnt mind getting an 880.

I might have to get one and swap my 9887 to my truck and use the 880 in my car. :naughty:

I love the EQ on the 880. I have always liked the layout of Alpine decks and I feel my 9887 is very user friendly, but even so I really liked tuning the EQ on the 880 even though I dont really like the Pioneer layout.

81elocd

10-12-2008, 04:07 PM

the Ural is FTW by far... if you can get your hands on it... even comes with a complimentary suitcase

Megalomaniac

10-12-2008, 05:33 PM

I wouldnt mind getting an 880.

I might have to get one and swap my 9887 to my truck and use the 880 in my car. :naughty:

I love the EQ on the 880. I have always liked the layout of Alpine decks and I feel my 9887 is very user friendly, but even so I really liked tuning the EQ on the 880 even though I dont really like the Pioneer layout.

800prs is better than the 880.

Slammed

10-12-2008, 06:08 PM

Alpine 9815 :D

MikeyB

10-12-2008, 10:14 PM

800prs is better than the 880.

So Ive heard. I havent had the opportunity to play around with one yet though.

James Bang

10-12-2008, 10:33 PM

Alpine 9815 :D

9815 = oldschool 9835 w/o biolite :)

my bro likes his 9815

tcguy85

10-13-2008, 12:19 PM

800prs is better than the 880.

there is no real difference between the two. different color face, and a copper plated chassis. thats it.

funkycasey

10-13-2008, 03:28 PM

Any sites to get the Ural from in the U.S.? I like buying head units brand new so they come with the full warranty

headshot

11-01-2008, 09:00 PM

Speaking of which, aren't there ways to hook an iPod directly as a digital signal, in which case a self-ripped 320kbs or flac would sound just as good as a CD?

IE - the Alpine 505 has a USB cable for the iPod.
THis is the descript......

Connect your iPod* to the IVA-W505 via a dedicated USB input, for the best sound and quickest access to your iPod. You can even see complete Album Art right on the screen, so why bother with individual CD’s when you can easily browse through your entire music collection on your iPod? Alpine’s USB Connection for iPod lets you enjoy all your favorite iPod tracks on the road. View Playlist, artist, album, song, podcast, genre and composer search right on the screen of your head unit. There’s no need for bulky interface boxes, just the USB cable (included) that connects your iPod directly to your Alpine. Forget FM transmitters and forget static, hollow sound. Forget the days of Analogue audio, with USB your music is kept in digital format throughout the entire process, and the 24bit DAC means you can enjoy the best in sound quality with the IVA-W505. For the ultimate experience the IVA-W505’s USB connection also supports Apple lossless playback. With Alpine, you can take your iPod on the road and sound good while you’re doing it. The IVA-W505 offers both USB connection and Full Speed connection options, so you can even connect to two iPods at the same time.

iPod USB adapter and USB cable included.

headshot

11-01-2008, 09:01 PM

As for my take on Lossless and sound quality etc...

For 8 years I've been ripping my CD's at 160, then 224, then 320 and NOW full lossless
WAV format. As the hard drives become larger and cheaper, I can afford the space. I'm
currently working with a 1TB Samsung in the last of my MacIntel's 4 bays, dedicated solely
for iTunes collection. The reason I'm ripping everything at WAV now is because I'm using a
router to beam my whole iTunes library and playlists across the house to my PS3 via WiFi,
and into my B&K 200.7 out to my JM Lab's (Focal's home line) Electra 927 BE. All that said
would mean nothing until I bring up this point:

As my ears evolve and I become more attuned to the pure sound quality I'm achieving in my Livingroom,
I can now tell the difference between 320 & 224 kbs quality. I still cannot tell the difference in blind tests
between 320 & PCM (the pure CD quality, in the format of WAV, Apple Lossless & AIFF) but I'm hoping one day I'll be good
enough to tell the difference, and if I ever get better equipment maybe I will. But the PS3's only reads
WAV or MP3's.

The music you download from iTunes (which I haven't done for years btw) isn't lossless, but it's their own codec.
But iTunes does have an option to RIP your CD's into WAV, various MP3 qualities and the Apple Lossless, but again,
there isn't much support for the latter.

Other forms of lossless formats you may find in Bit Torrents are Flac, Shn, Ape and a few other weird ones others came up
with because they were bored. But FLAC's are the most common. The take up about half the size of (CD) PCM files.
Usually these come in the form of an entire album, or whatever the seeder decided to package up for download.
Once these FLAC's etc. are downloaded, you can convert them to WAV or AIFF that can be burned onto CD. These
are true lossless formats, as there is no loss of information or quality of any kind I believe. You can also convert these
files to any other format you like with Toast or iTunes. (iTunes requires FLACs be converted to WAV or AIFF, then imported
as whatever you like.

For a few years I had a Kenwood and the Kenwood Keg (Phatnoise) mounted under the seat with a removable cartridge
that you could sync with your iTunes. That read as a CD Changer, so the quality was pure digital, as opposed to an
iPod transmitter or Mini-jack which is pure crap. I only hope the new connection methods are also as good.